A Spoonful of Sugar
by Eve Royal
Summary: When a soul is disheartened there's only one man who can cheer them up... Ian O'Shea. I/W; from "Thirty Kisses"


A/N: As many of you know, I had a story up called "Thirty Kisses." It was my hope to actually write 30 stories for this couple. But, as you can all see that it's been two years since I updated, I've decided to take that story down and post each 'story' as a separate oneshot. That way, if I do come up with any ideas I can post them, but you're not forever waiting for something that might never arrive.

Again, I apologize. I hope you forgive me.

Disclaimer: I don't own _The Host_ by Stephenie Meyer. Idea taken from LiveJournal Community "30 Kisses".

Theme #12: In a Good Mood.

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**A Spoonful of Sugar**

Wanderer sighed as she twirled a curl around her finger. She still wasn't sure if she liked this host, as unaccustomed to the hardness of life as this host was. Despite living the life of refugees for almost six weeks in this form, she was still the weakest link in the underground chain. There were no calluses on her hands like there were on Mel's, and it hurt to harden up the skin. She couldn't run or work or do anything like she used to with Mel's body and it made her feel useless. She wanted to help, but it seemed she could only hinder.

"Wanda? C'mon, Wanda; eat up!"

She raised her head and a smile unconsciously formed on her lips in reaction to Jamie's order.

"I'm not very hungry now, Jamie," she mumbled. "Thanks though."

Jamie frowned. "Ian made me promise to watch you eat. So eat!"

Wanda lowered her eyes. Ian. He had been gone for the last couple days, meeting with Kyle, Jeb, and Jared about a raid coming up. It shouldn't have bothered her as much as it did, but Ian had barely left her side since she had woken up in Pet's body. She wasn't used to him not being there.

Her eyes drifted down the table to where the aforementioned raiders sat, their heads touching as the argued amongst themselves. Silver-grey eyes focused on a black head angled away from her and a sigh escaped her lips.

"Give it up, Jamie. It's obvious she's going to starve herself until Ian's by her side again."

Wanda slowly tore her eyes away from Ian and let their gaze land on her past body. Melanie sat next to Jamie with a smug grin on her pretty face.

"It's not that, Mel," she denied softly, her cheeks flushing. Pet had blushed a lot and now it seemed that Wanda was to be cursed by it. "I'm just not hungry right now."

"Uh huh." Melanie's frown told the world what she really thought. "I'm sure."

"It's true," Wanda insisted, her gaze returning to Ian's form. Expecting him to still be occupied, she prepared herself for a mere glimpse of his dark hair.

Instead, a pair of intense blue eyes held her silver ones.

She inhaled sharply, her lips turning up in a smile. Ian himself grinned at her, his eyes dancing so fiercely that she could watch them sparkle from her seat.

Suddenly the eyes turned serious before crossing to stare at his sharp, handsome nose.

Wanda blinked in astonishment. What was he doing?

Ian, his eyes still crossed, slowly tilted his head to the right, then to the left, then to the right again. With a blink, he uncrossed his eyes and brought his gaze back to hers.

Wanda looked on, mystified.

A mischievous grin touched his lips and he held up a single finger, telling her to wait a moment. Wanda waited as she watched him steal a spoon from an unsuspecting Kyle. Ian grabbed his own spoon, holding on in each hand, and slowly brought them up to his face, covering his face more with his large hands than with the actual utensils.

Wanda pursed her lips in order to contain her smile as he separated the spoons, one in each direction, exposing his face done up in a melodramatic frown. He pulled the spoons back together for a moment before moving his wrists so the spoons moved again, exposing his maniac smile.

Wanda covered her mouth with a small hand as she struggled to mute her giggles.

Ian opened his eyes, having had closed them for his joyful mask, and shot her an honest smile. Suddenly, he blinked and his eyes focused on the spoons. Carefully, almost experimentally, he crossed the spoons so that the one in his right hand pointed to the left and vice versa, and had his eyes watch them.

He uncrossed his spoons, his eyes still on them and recrossed them so the opposite spoon overlapped the other one.

And he repeated it. First, right over left, then left over right. He continued, his eyes never leaving the rounded bowls of the spoons as Wanda gaped at him.

Abruptly, he placed the spoons back on the table as his eyes blinked rapidly. With his hands free, he used his fists to rub his eyes, his lips turned down in a pained frown.

This time, Wanda was forced to bite her lips.

A few moments later Ian lowered his hands, placing them on the table. With a quick glance over at the guys next to him, he returned his focus to Wanda. He pursed his lips, obviously trying to figure out what he should do next. As he thought, his hand grasped a spoon and tapped it lightly against the table.

Wanda shook her head in amusement.

The movement caught Ian's attention and he stared at her, his head cocked to the side as he shot her a confused look. With a smile, she pointed to the spoon in his hand.

He looked down and blinked at the spoon. After a moment, he shrugged and picked up the other spoon, tapping out a rhythm on the table. Starting off slowly, it grew in speed and intensity, his head rocking to the beat he listened in his head.

Wanda watched, leaning her chin on her fist. With his eyes closed, and his head moving in tandem with his spoons, she wondered if he knew how amazing he looked. His hair flowed slightly from his sharp movements, a couple strands falling over his face and she became hypnotised by their motions.

Her eyes widened as she noticed from the corner of her eye Kyle finally moving. Biting her lip in worry, she watched as Kyle frowned at his little brother and thumped Ian hard on his shoulder. Ian's eyes opened wide and he let out a startled cry, his hands flicking the spoons over his head.

Everyone turned at his cry and just as silence fell over the hall, the clatter of spoons sounded.

She would tell herself later that it wasn't her fault. That any other being would have done the exact same thing had they seen Ian's face. She would tell herself that, but she would never be quite sure if it was true.

Wanda burst out laughing.

And not the small, quiet giggles most of the refugees had become accustomed to in the last six weeks. No, this was the loud, belly-aching laughs that fit more with Melanie than with Wanderer; and every gasp for breath ended up with her tiny form shaking from the force of her laughter.

She didn't know how long she was laughing for, but eventually, her laughs subsided and a strong hand touched her shoulder. She glanced up, still giggling between laughs, and blinked up into Ian's face.

"What..." she breathed, and quickly looked around for the others. Her face flushed as she realised that she had been laughing for so long that everyone had left, having finished their supper while she had her fit, and that only Ian was left.

"Oh..." she gasped, her hands flying up to cover her mouth, her astonishment forcing her to become sober.

Ian chuckled and sat at the vacant seat to her left. "Wow. If I knew it would've affected you _that_ much, I would've done it in the first place."

She turned and looked into his beautiful face. "I... I didn't mean to laugh that much. It was... Your face..."

"My face?" he asked, frowning at her. She bit her lip at the laughter shining in his eyes. "What's wrong with my face?"

"It was... Just your expression," she clarified. "Why were you trying to make me laugh anyways?"

His eyes lost their glow and he titled his head, concern radiating from him. He slowly reached for her hand. "Jamie said you've been in a bad mood lately. I didn't think it suited you."

She blushed and looked away. "I've just missed you," she admitted softly. "That's all."

"That's all?" His loud voice caught her attention and she turned back to him. "That's plenty to worry about." His eyes softened. "You should always be in a good mood."

"Always?" she asked. "Ian," she said softly, shaking her head. "You can't expect me to be happy all the time. Humans are not designed for that."

"But you're not human," he countered, grinning smugly, his thumb rubbing the back of her hand. "So that argument falls flat."

"But I'm in a human body. I feel like you humans do," she insisted. "And humans miss their loved ones when they're not around."

"So to keep you in a good mood, I have to be near you 24/7?" Ian asked.

"I... I suppose so..."

"Well..." Ian sighed. "That's not possible right now. So you'll have to settle for the next best thing."

"Which is...?" she asked quietly.

"This." And he leaned in, allowing his lips to meet hers.

She angled her head up, eagerly seeking him, trying to get closer. His lips moved softly over hers, and just when she was about to deepen it, he pulled away.

"There. Now, stay happy." His commanding tone was marred by his panting and hazy gaze.

"Yes, sir," she murmured, her lips already seeking his again.

- - - END - - -


End file.
